Boss faces jail after admitting horsemeat charges

Peter Boddy, 65, admitted one count of failing to abide by EU meat traceability regulations concerning more than 17 horse carcasses at London’s Southwark Crown Court. The charges carry a maximum sentence of two years’ imprisonment.

The horsemeat scandal rocked British supermarkets in 2013 after it transpired that consumers had been sold falsely labelled meat.

At an earlier hearing, Boddy – who runs a slaughterhouse in Todmorden, West Yorkshire – pleaded guilty to failing to comply with food traceability regulations which state the source of meat should be traceable from field to fork.

He admitted selling 50 horses for meat but failing to keep proper records to show who bought them. There is no suggestion that buyers did not know they were purchasing horse meat.

Peter Boddy’s slaughterhouse in Todmorden, West Yorkshire

David Moss, manager of the slaughterhouse, admitted forging an invoice concerning the number of horses sold in a transaction on February 12 2013.

But the 54-year-old denied failing to comply with food traceability requirements for more than 17 horse carcasses between July 2012 and February 2013, and the charge was left to lie on file, as well as a charge of failing to comply with EU meat traceability regulations.

The pair will be sentenced on March 23 at Southwark Crown Court.